UNMIS NEWS BULLETIN

The yearly Human Development Report 2007/2008 was launched by the UN Development Program (UNDP) at its Khartoum headquarters on 22 January.

Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan and UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Ameerah Haq highlighted key issues of the report, which is entitled “Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World”.

“As the Human Development Report 2007/2008 makes clear, what we do today about climate change has consequences that will last a century or more, “Ms. Haq said. She called on leaders, parliamentarians, media and society in Sudan to limit future climate change and help the most vulnerable adapt to what was already unavoidable.

Ms. Haq added that the world lacked neither the financial resources nor the ability to develop the technology to act upon climate change. “What is missing is a sense of urgency, of human solidarity and collective interest,” she said.

WFP warns that banditry threatens food supplies for Darfur

Increased banditry was threatening food supplies to more than two million people in Darfur, raising the possibility that rations would be cut, the World Food Program (WFP) said in a press release on 23 January.

So far this year, bandits have stolen 22 WFP-contracted trucks and abducted their drivers, 18 of whom are still missing. “Our main trucking companies now refuse to send in more vehicles because of this upsurge in banditry … we have no one to deliver about half our monthly food relief requirements,” said WFP representative Kenro Oshidari.

If the situation continued, the WFP would be forced to cut rations in parts of Darfur by mid-February, Mr. Oshidari said.

Security situation

Southern Sudan and the Three Areas

Students demonstrated at the Ministry of Education in Juba on 22 January, complaining about the non-payment of their teachers’ salaries and poor teaching methods. The demonstration ended peacefully.